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5/31/2014

so let's make a travelers notebook today, shall we? I mentioned I made a midori style notebook the other day. I liked the midori the minute I first saw it, but didn't like I couldn't get the paper in a store. The original midori is a travelers notebook that's become quite popular lately and I wanted one to fit regular moleskine notebooks. So I made one.

here you will see how I did it and that you can make it as well. It's been very quick and satisfying to hold the finished piece within two hours.

What you'll need: leather, about 2-3 mm thick, it should be sturdy enough to fold around a notebook and give it support. An utility knife and I recommend a metal ruler, a pencil and some elastic band.

first: measure out the size you will need for your notebook. I sized mine 21,5 cm x 28,8 cm to cover moleskine cahiers. I gave a little extra on top/bottom and to the sides to allow the leather cover to hug around my notebooks. Once you measured draw the outline onto the wrong side of your piece of leather (I got mine from ebay in case you wondered) and with the help of your metal ruler and knife cut it out. It takes a few cuts to get through leather, but it workes surprisingly well.

now let's round the edges. If you don't care about rounded edges, just skip this step. I tried a few coins to see how much curve I wanted for the edges and went for a 1 cent piece in the end. To cut the edge I didn't cut in a long stroke like for the sides but pressed the utility knife down into the leather little bit by bit next to the coin. This made an interesting sound ^__^ and once I cut the edge of I cleaned it while still holding the coin firmly in place and now actually cutting along the coin with the knife, easy peasy

to punch the holes into the leather for the rubber band I used my handy hole puncher, you can use an awl of course as well. It's the original leather tool to make holes. Just pushing a needle with the elastic through the leather might cause the leather to tear with time.
I marked 5 holes total, all along the middle of the leather. Two on top and bottom each and one in the middle.

I used a normal sewing needle and some extra thread to make a "artificial extra big" eyelet, pulled the elastic through this super big eyelet and pulled the elastic through the top and bottom holes of the leather cover like pictured below:

For my first notebook I made a classic knot, you can see the grey elastic below. With my second notebook (it was just so much fun, I had to make a second one) I made a different knot. It's pictured in the red elastic and I let it open to take the picture. This type of knot is a lot flatter than the one I used for the gray elastic and therefore fits much better. (Both knots probably have fancy names but I don't know them, if you do, please name them below in the comments section, thank you)
What you can also see in the pic below is that the elastic should cause some tension on the leather cover, this will flatten once you put a notebook inside and will help pulling the notebook into cover.

to finish it off I added a little piece of ribbon to the inner part of the elastic to work as a book mark and also made a loop out of a second piece of elastic which I pulled through the hole in the middle of the notebook cover. This will close your travelers notebook later. You can see the knot inside the notebook below and also how a moleskine looks once inserted.
(just open the notebook along the middle and pull it through the top elastic band, so the 'upper' part of the elastics will lay inside your notebook and the knotted part of the elastic lays between the notebook back and the leather, if you need more pictures on this step and also how to include more than one notebook, just leave me a comment)

5/28/2014

5/14/2014

Oooh yeah - my mailbox was full yesterday and the leather for my journal project arrived. And to pamper myself a little (I've been working like a maniac the last days) I went shopping today. I got a few new pens and watercolor brushes and a travel box for my half pan watercolors.

It feels so damn good to know I will be drawing again. During the last few days I often caught myself smiling while realizing my mind was drawn to sketching ideas.

It's such a good feeling, almost like freedom, like going back to my roots. Very weird but very fascinating and satisfying at the same time. Awesome!

This new freedom when thinking about drawing also makes my "designing juices" flow again. I'm thinking about amigurumi cats. There is this new way of ears I want to try soon. I bet you will like it.

5/10/2014

Today I need to do my office, instead I can't wait for some leather to arrive so I can make myself a midori, which will be filled with moleskine notebooks.

Lately I've started a Filofax again and as I'm drooling through other blogs and videos on journals I came across midoris. Oh how awesome are these? I immediately fell in love and very quickly began to design my own in my mind. As much as I love the midori style I don't like that you can't buy the refills in a regular bookstore. Moleskins you can. So next best thing to do is make my own.

I plan to transfer my 'dear diary' style journal into one.

Today I spent most of my day looking through moleskins on pinterest. I even made a new board just for this purpose.

Back in school and university I used to draw a lot, I even planned to go to art college. But starting to work I drew less and less, I always figured I didn't have enough space. Now I imagine a daily diary with my sketches. It will be so awesome!

5/02/2014

crochet can be so beautiful! I adore this stitch, I wouldn't know how to include it in a design right now, but it's so pretty anyway-----häkeln kann so schön sein! Diese Masche finde ich unfassbar schön, habe aber auch grade so gar keine Idee wofür man sie verwenden könnte

baking with apples, I know autumn is the time of year for apple cakes but these are so cute I def! have to make them a lot earlier. The blog is in German and she uses a yeast dough for her "cupcakes" but I think the picture gives you a good idea how to make them-----mit Äpfeln zu backen ist toll, auch wenn klassischerweise der Herbst dafür gedacht ist. Diese kleinen Törtchen sind aber soo schön, die werde ich definitiv früher machen. Der Blog ist übrigens auf deutsch, klickt einfach auf das Bild

1. SOMETHING PURPLE: I've been on vacation for a few days with my friend Jana, in the breakfast room there was a purple candle light, can you see the sea in the back? it was so beautiful there! ---- Kurzurlaub mit ner Freundin, und am Frühstückstisch gabs lila Kerzenhalter, das war so schön da!

2. IN MY HAND: is a filofax now, I started using it by late March and still really like it, if you wanna see my layout just say hey, in the comments below ---- ein Filofax, ein trend geht um und ich bin auch dabei, anderseits den Kalender zu organisieren kann nie schaden oder?

6. A TASTE OF SPRING: chives for breakfast, can it be any better? ---- Schnittlauch zum Frühstück, es gibt nicht besseres

7. WHERE I’D RATHER BE: outside (I've been at a hotel again for the whole day and would rather play in the sunshine) ---- draussen (war mal wieder im Hotel den ganzen Tag und hätte doch viel lieber draussen gespielt)

27: UNDER MY FEET: we BBQed and it was just too good to take a picture of the coal or the grass or the fun ---- wir haben gegrillt und es war zu schön um die Kohle oder das Gras oder den Spaß zu fotografieren

ABOUT ME

My name is Diana and I am passionate about crocheting, knitting and pattern designing. I also craft, bake, cook and rant.If you find something that inspires you, please brighten my day by letting me know.And if you find an error in one of my patterns, send me a gentle nudge so that I can fix it.